28
1 The Musician’s Experience of Brass Instruments
In evaluating the quality of an instrument, players also consider the nature of
the radiated sound. Judgements of ‘sound power’ were found by Bertsch et al.
to be consistent, but estimates of timbral quality were less reliable. Timbre is a
multidimensional quality, and many different semantic scales have been used to
describe different tone colours. Sounds can be rated on a scale from ‘dirty’ to
‘clean’, from ‘narrow’ to ‘wide’ or from ‘solid’ to ‘hollow’ (Bismarck 1974). One
of the most commonly used timbral scales spans the range from ‘dark’ to ‘bright’;
this scale is related to the balance between low- and high-frequency components in
the sound spectrum (see Sect. 2.2.3). A surprising finding in the tests of Bertsch et
al. was that trumpet players were very inconsistent in judging the ‘brightness’ of a
particular instrument. Ratings on a scale from ‘colourless’ to ‘brilliant’ were more
reliable.
What conclusion can be drawn from this brief survey of some of the terms used
by brass players in comparing instruments? The response of a player to a particular
instrument is bound to depend very heavily on the player’s background, training,
experience and musical taste. Short-term factors, such as whether a different instrument has been played just before the test, can have a biasing effect on judgements
of particular qualities of playability or timbre. Some of the descriptive words used
by musicians do not have well-defined and universally accepted meanings, and
such terms should be treated with caution when discussing and evaluating brass
instruments.
1.3.3 Biases in Quality Evaluation of Musical Instruments
In the tests described in the previous section, the experimenters were careful to
ensure that the players were unable to have clear sight of the instruments being
played. The reason for this was that clues such as a maker’s trademark or a
characteristic shape or colour have been shown to exert a significant influence on
the player’s assessment of an instrument. A classic example of this phenomenon was
reported more than 30 years ago by Smith (1986), then working for the London brass
manufacturer Boosey & Hawkes. As part of a study of the perceptual significance
of wall vibrations in brass instruments (see Sect. 6.6), ten professional trombonists
were asked to play and evaluate a number of tenor trombones, identical except for
the bell sections. All the bells were made on the same mandrel to ensure that they
had the same internal dimensions, and the mass distributions of the instruments were
equalised. Visual cues were eliminated by blindfolding the players (Fig. 1.18).
Most of the bells were made from yellow brass, which is an alloy of 70% copper
and 30% zinc. A pure copper bell was also included in the test set. Brass instrument
manufacturers typically claim that a red brass bell, with 90% copper in the alloy,
gives a darker, warmer sound than a yellow brass bell, and this opinion is shared
by many players. In the blind test, the trombone with a pure copper bell was not
identified as having a noticeably different timbre from those with yellow brass bells;
1 The Musician’s Experience of Brass Instruments
In evaluating the quality of an instrument, players also consider the nature of
the radiated sound. Judgements of ‘sound power’ were found by Bertsch et al.
to be consistent, but estimates of timbral quality were less reliable. Timbre is a
multidimensional quality, and many different semantic scales have been used to
describe different tone colours. Sounds can be rated on a scale from ‘dirty’ to
‘clean’, from ‘narrow’ to ‘wide’ or from ‘solid’ to ‘hollow’ (Bismarck 1974). One
of the most commonly used timbral scales spans the range from ‘dark’ to ‘bright’;
this scale is related to the balance between low- and high-frequency components in
the sound spectrum (see Sect. 2.2.3). A surprising finding in the tests of Bertsch et
al. was that trumpet players were very inconsistent in judging the ‘brightness’ of a
particular instrument. Ratings on a scale from ‘colourless’ to ‘brilliant’ were more
reliable.
What conclusion can be drawn from this brief survey of some of the terms used
by brass players in comparing instruments? The response of a player to a particular
instrument is bound to depend very heavily on the player’s background, training,
experience and musical taste. Short-term factors, such as whether a different instrument has been played just before the test, can have a biasing effect on judgements
of particular qualities of playability or timbre. Some of the descriptive words used
by musicians do not have well-defined and universally accepted meanings, and
such terms should be treated with caution when discussing and evaluating brass
instruments.
1.3.3 Biases in Quality Evaluation of Musical Instruments
In the tests described in the previous section, the experimenters were careful to
ensure that the players were unable to have clear sight of the instruments being
played. The reason for this was that clues such as a maker’s trademark or a
characteristic shape or colour have been shown to exert a significant influence on
the player’s assessment of an instrument. A classic example of this phenomenon was
reported more than 30 years ago by Smith (1986), then working for the London brass
manufacturer Boosey & Hawkes. As part of a study of the perceptual significance
of wall vibrations in brass instruments (see Sect. 6.6), ten professional trombonists
were asked to play and evaluate a number of tenor trombones, identical except for
the bell sections. All the bells were made on the same mandrel to ensure that they
had the same internal dimensions, and the mass distributions of the instruments were
equalised. Visual cues were eliminated by blindfolding the players (Fig. 1.18).
Most of the bells were made from yellow brass, which is an alloy of 70% copper
and 30% zinc. A pure copper bell was also included in the test set. Brass instrument
manufacturers typically claim that a red brass bell, with 90% copper in the alloy,
gives a darker, warmer sound than a yellow brass bell, and this opinion is shared
by many players. In the blind test, the trombone with a pure copper bell was not
identified as having a noticeably different timbre from those with yellow brass bells;